Japan questions

• 1. How did Japan’s geography help shape that society’s worldview?

  • The country of Japan is an archipelago - a series of islands. Usually people who live on an island have an isolated worldview because they don’t have easy contact with different cultures. The mountainous landscape also made communication and travel between different cities in Japan difficult, which added to their feelings of independence.
• 2. What impact did contact with Western cultures have on the Japanese worldview?

  • They learned about religious freedom, competing with other nations, building their economy, and changing their education system and system of government. They brought back these ideas and used them to help modernize Japan.
• 3. How can military power and social structure be used to maintain control in a society?

  • A social structure is a way of organizing a society, either formally with laws or informally with access to wealth and education. 
  • Military power can control a society through intimidation and force. The military was used to enforce punishments on people who did not follow the social rules.
• 4. What factors motivated Japan’s decision to end its isolation?

  • Japan was motivated to end its isolation because of the increasing pressure of external influences and internal influences within the country.
• 5. What role did the samurai have in Japanese society? What rules did they have to follow? What special privileges did they have?

  • Samurai held the most prestigious position in society. They were educated and trained from an early age to be leaders. They had to follow a strict code of behaviour called “bushido”.